


You've Been Scared of Love and What It Did To You

by OfAllTheStarsAligned



Category: The Secret Circle (TV)
Genre: Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Magic, Sharing a Bed, Spells & Enchantments, Witches, theyre ooc but i dont really care tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 17:51:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14360547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfAllTheStarsAligned/pseuds/OfAllTheStarsAligned
Summary: Jake's been acting odd for a while now, so the Circle is going to find out what's up. They didn't expect this though.





	You've Been Scared of Love and What It Did To You

**Faye to Cassie, Adam, Melissa, and Diana:** _Meet me outside after school._

 

“She’s the one who asked us to meet her and yet she’s still late,” Cassie said.

 

Faye joined the circle. “Oh, calm down. I’m right here.”

 

“What’s this about, Faye?” Adam asked.

 

“Ugh, this is kind of important, but I’m not going to tell you if you keep jumping down my throat,” Faye said.

 

“Please, Faye,” Diana said. “What is it?”

 

Faye sighed. “Look, I’ve just noticed that whenever we’re with Jake, he always seems like he’s one step from some sort of breakdown.”

 

“I’ve noticed that too,” Adam said.

 

“Do you know what’s wrong?” Melissa asked Adam.

 

Adam shook his head. “No. Whenever I try to ask him if there’s something bothering him, he avoids the question or redirects the conversation.”

 

“What should we do?” Diana said.

 

“I don’t know,” Faye snapped. “I only brought it up because I thought one of you might know what to do about it.”

 

“Let’s just play it safe for now,” Melissa said. “We don’t want him to think we don’t trust him.”

 

“Everyone should come to my house,” Cassie said.

 

“And what? Have a sleepover?” Faye laughed.

 

“I guess. I was thinking that we could just let Jake know that we’re here for him if he needs us. We’re a circle, we need to stick together. And even if he doesn’t tell us what’s wrong right away, maybe he will in the future,” Cassie thought aloud.

 

“Okay,” Adam said, “when would we have this.”

 

“I mean, it’s kind of last minute, but we could do it today,” Cassie said. “We could tell Jake that we’re working on circle stuff, and then bring up the conversation when he’s there.”

 

“I’ll ask him,” Adam said as he pulled out his phone.

 

Faye raised her eyebrow. “You two are sure chummy lately, what’s up?”

 

“Nothing is up, Faye. We’ve just… decided to finally be mature about this. The Circle will function better if we aren’t at each other’s throats all the time,” Adam replied as he texted Jake.

 

 **Adam to Jake:** _Hey, we’re thinking about having some sort of Circle get-together at Cassie’s house tonight. Can you come?_

 

 **Jake to Adam:** _I suppose, yeah. When should I go over?_

 

 **Adam to Jake:** _I’ll text you when I get there tonight. We can go in together._

 

Adam saw that Jake had read his message and then put his phone back in his pocket. “He said he’ll come. He’ll just come over when he sees the rest of us show up.”

 

“That works,” Cassie said, “I’ll see you guys around… 6, I guess.”

 

\-----

 

The six teens sat on Cassie’s living room floor and made idle conversation. As natural as they tried to keep it, it sounded somewhat forced. They were, after all, waiting up until the right time to talk to Jake about how he's been feeling.

 

Finally, Diana decided it was time and took the initiative.

 

“Jake,” she said simply, which caused Jake to turn from his conversation with Melissa.

 

“We,” Diana continued, “need to talk. All of us.”

 

“What about?” Jake asked, a note of caution obvious in his voice.

 

Diana raised her hands in submission. “It’s okay, don’t freak out. We’ve all noticed that lately, you’ve been… off.”

 

Faye rolled her eyes. “Everytime I talk to you, you seem like you’re one step from having some kind of breakdown. What’s up?”

 

Jake stayed silent as his eyes glanced over the faces of the other 5.

 

“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to,” Cassie clarified. “We just… We wanted to let you know that we’re here for you.”

 

Jake’s eyes drifted to Adam for a moment, who gave him a reassuring smile. “Okay…”

 

“So, you’ll tell us,” Faye said.

 

“You guys just said I didn’t have to.”

 

“You don’t,” Melissa said. “Faye, cut it out.”

 

“No,” Faye argued, “I don’t care what you guys want, I want answers.”

 

“We _said_ we would let Jake know that we’re here for him, but we weren’t going to pressure him,” Diana countered.

 

“You said that, I never said I agreed,” Faye said before she turned her attention back to Jake. “What’s up with you? You’re acting weird lately and it’s always been your thing to not care. So this is really out of character for you.”

 

The other four witches stared at Jake and Faye as they waited for some sort of development in their argument. What they didn’t expect was for tears to well up in Jake’s eyes before he quickly stood up.

 

Diana tried to speak, “Jake-”

 

“Just... stop,” Jake’s voice wavered as he spoke before he left the room.

 

The five remaining teens stared at the doorway where Jake had disappeared. Diana broke out of the silence first and immediately turned her attention to Faye.

 

“Faye! What the hell was that?” she said.

 

“I-I don’t know! I wanted answers. I didn’t think he’d start _crying._ I’ve never even seen Jake cry, I didn’t know he could,” Faye looked to Melissa for support.

 

“Faye, that’s not right,” Melissa said as she shook her head.

 

Adam got up as Diana, Melissa, and Faye continued to argue and Cassie got pulled into the argument. Adam silently left the room and tried to find Jake. He poked his head into the dining room and saw nothing.

 

When he found Jake a few moments later, he was in the kitchen sitting on the floor. His hands hid his face and Adam could hear him taking deep, yet rapid breaths. Adam frowned as he stopped in front of him.

 

“Jake…” he said softly to let Jake know he was there.

 

Adam sat down in the floor next to Jake, unsure what to do, but he knew he wanted to help. He cautiously wrapped his arm around Jake’s shoulder and when he didn’t hear any protests from Jake, or feel him tense up, Adam pulled him close. He didn’t know what else to do, he’s never even seen Jake upset before. Jake used apathy to deal with most things, but Adam had a sneaking suspicion that Jake’s apathy wasn’t real.

 

Adam’s eyes widened as Jake wrapped his arms around him, silently reciprocating the hug. Jake hid his face in Adam’s shoulder and he knew that Jake didn’t want Adam to see him upset, but he needed physical contact. They sat in silence as they held one another. Adam saw the girls quietly join them in the kitchen.

 

Diana opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t get any words out before Jake started to sob. Everyone gawked in silence, unsure of what to do and too shocked to do anything anyways. Adam looked at Diana and silently asked for help. She gave him a weak smile and made a vague _‘stay there’_ motion. Adam frowned and held Jake tight as he continued to cry.

 

They stood there for what seemed like ages, just listening to Jake’s sobs. Diana and Cassie couldn’t help but to tear up as well. They had never seen Jake like this before and they had no idea how to help him. Faye and Melissa stood there in silence. Faye, wondering how in the hell she managed to do this. Melissa, wondering where this emotion was during Nick’s wake.

 

Melissa didn’t mean to think that, but she couldn’t help it. Why didn’t Jake have any sort of emotion at Nick’s wake? All he ever showed was apathy.

 

Adam began to rub Jake’s back and hoped that it would help, even a little.

 

Jake’s body shook with his sobs, his face still hidden in Adam’s shoulder. His voice came out muffled and broken as he sobbed, _“Nick…”_

 

Melissa’s hand covered her mouth as a sob of her own threatened to escape her lips. Tears began to run down her face. She got the emotion she had been looking for from Jake, and now she wished she never saw it. She knew Jake loved his younger brother deeply, but didn’t show it often. She didn’t know why she ever doubted it.

 

Adam shut his eyes and pressed his lips together as he held Jake tighter. His own tears began to well up, but he tried his best to keep them back.

 

They all had roughly the same thought. _So this is what it had been about._

 

Jake continued to cry into Adam’s shoulder, his mouth forming a word he hadn’t said since he left. _“Nicky…”_

 

Faye looked away as she felt her own tears begin to form.

 

In silence, they stood in the kitchen, all with tears in their eyes.

 

\-----

 

Jane heard the weeping the second she entered the house and she quietly went to investigate. She entered the kitchen and saw Cassie and her circle there, all of them in tears. She didn’t have to look much to see the cause. Jake Armstrong, still in the floor with Adam, wept as he said his brothers name. He was the one she had heard when she came home.

 

Jane looked to Cassie and whispered, “How long has this been going on?”

 

Cassie looked to the clock, then back to her grandmother. “About an hour,” she whispered.

 

Jane nodded before she exited the room. She returned minutes later, the Blake family crystal in hand. She approached Adam and Jake and kneeled down next to them. She looked to Adam, who held Jake so tight he could burst, but yet he didn’t complain. She smiled and held the crystal close to Jake and placed her hand on his back. She whispered to him, the crystal channeled her energy into the spell.

 

Around the room, tears dried and gentle smiles returned. Jake still quietly cried, but was much calmer now. A few more minutes passed and he was silent again, aside from a few sniffles. Jake still rested against Adam, who kept his hand against Jake’s back.

 

“How did you do that?” Diana said as Jane stood up. “You did the spell on Jake, but even I feel calmer.”

 

Jane smiled and put the crystal into her pocket. “After binding a circle, sometimes powerful emotions can find their way into your magic. Jake’s emotions channeled into his magic, which channeled into you all.”

 

“Jake’s the reason it was a tear-fest in here?” Faye said incredulously.

 

“I suppose you could put it that way,” Jane replied. “But don’t blame him. I’m sure he had no idea emotions and magic went hand in hand like that.”

 

Melissa went over to Jake and sat down with him. She took hold of one of his hands, which caused him to look over to her.

 

“Are you okay?” she asked.

 

“Yeah… I just…” he trailed off.

 

A soft smile formed on Melissa’s face as she wrapped Jake in a hug of her own.

 

“I know…” she whispered. “I get it… I’m sorry I thought you didn’t care.”

 

“It’s okay,” Jake said quietly as he hugged her back, “Most people tend to.”

 

They hugged for a few moments more before they parted. Melissa stood and went back to where she had been standing before.

 

“Is everyone alright now?” Jane asked.

 

“Yeah, we’re fine. Thanks, Grandma,” Cassie said.

 

“Well, I’ll start on dinner for you all.”

 

“Oh, thank you Mrs. Blake, but you don’t have to do all of that,” Diana said.

 

Jane smiled. “I insist, now why don’t you all run along. I’m sure you all over other things to do than stand in the kitchen.”

 

The girls smiled and returned to the living room. As they walked into the room, Diana whispered to Faye, “When Jake gets in here you have to apologize to him.”

 

Faye groaned. “Can you really blame me for being curious?”

 

“No, I can’t,” Diana said, “but I can blame you for making him cry.”

 

“Ugh, fine. I’ll apologize or whatever.”

 

As Diana continued to lecture Faye, back in the kitchen Adam was helping Jake to his feet.

 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Adam asked, still worried.

 

“Yeah,” Jake said, “I’m fine. Thanks Adam.”

 

Adam nodded a bit and Jake turned to Jane, who still stood in the kitchen.

 

“Um.. thank you,” he said quietly.

 

“Of course.” she said with a smile.

 

Adam and Jake returned to the living room together. When they entered the room, the conversation stopped.

 

“Jake, I…” Faye started, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for any of that to happen.”

 

 

“It’s fine, I get it,” Jake said. “You just have a weird way of showing people you care.”

 

“Yeah, I guess,” Faye folded her arms across her chest. “But still, I’m sorry.”

 

 

Jake just nodded, unsure of what else could be said.

 

\-----

 

At the request of Jane, the girls piled into Cassie’s room with an inflatable mattress in tow and Jake and Adam went into the guest room.

 

As Jake and Adam lied in bed together in silence, aside from the ever ticking clock, they grew to realize they truly were comfortable with the other’s presence.

 

“Jake.”

 

Jake turned onto his side to face Adam.

 

“Look, I’m sorry I keep asking, but… you swear you’re okay?” Adam asked.

 

A faint, affectionate smile appeared on Jake’s face. “Adam, I promise you I’m okay.”

 

“Okay," Adam said quietly. A faint blush began to color his face as he continued, “I actually had something I wanted to ask you, or rather, tell you, but I don’t have to right now since it’s kind of weird.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“I, uh… no, nevermind it’s dumb.”

 

Jake frowned. “Well, now you have to tell me.”

 

Adam groaned and covered his face with his hand. “No, this is embarrassing, Really, nevermind.”

 

“Adam, seriously…”

 

Adam sighed heavily and moved his hand, his face was turning a deeper shade of red.

 

“I suppose…” Adam said. “I guess what I’m trying to say is… I _like_ you, Jake.”

 

Now it was Jake’s turn to begin to blush. This wasn’t what he expected Adam to tell him, but he definitely didn’t have a problem with it. His smile widened and Adam also allowed a small smile to grow on his face.

 

“Adam, I…” Jake’s blush deepened. “I’m not very good with… this, but I like you too.”

 

Adam covered Jake’s hand with his own. “That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”

 

They smiled at each other, both unsure where this would take them, but excited to see. Adam threaded his fingers through Jake’s and they fell asleep like that, hands clasped and peaceful.

 

\-----

 

“Girls, could you go and get Jake and Adam? I’m not sure if they’re even awake yet,” Jane said as she turned off the stove.

 

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Cassie said before she left with the other three.

 

They went back upstairs and Cassie lead them to the guest room. With two consecutive knocks on the door, they waited for either Jake or Adam to answer the door.

 

Moments passed and no one came to the door. Diana raised her eyebrow and knocked again, slightly louder.

 

Still no answer.

 

Faye knocked once before she opened the door. They went inside, not expecting what they found.

 

Jake and Adam still lay in bed, fast asleep. Jake laid on his side, faced away from Adam and snores escaped his lips. Adam’s arms wrapped around Jake’s torso, spooning him, with his face buried into the crook of Jake’s neck. Their hands were still loosely clasped from how they fell asleep that night.

 

“I… really wasn’t expecting that,” Faye stated and broke the shocked silence.

 

“Yeah…” the other three agreed.

 

Diana went over to the side of the bed and prodded Adam’s side. “Adam.”

 

Adam let out an irritated groan as he was woken up. “What, Di,” he said.

 

“Uh… are you and Jake…?” she trailed off.

 

“Are Jake and I… what?” He asked before he realized that he was cuddling with Jake. He blushed and cleared his throat. “Um… maybe?”

 

“Maybe what?” Cassie said.

 

Adam sighed and started to prod Jake. “Jake.”

 

“What…” Jake grumbled with his eyes still closed.

 

“Are we dating now?” Adam asked.

 

“What?” Jake opened his eyes and looked to Adam. “I thought we did all of this last night.”

 

“Yeah I know, but… just making sure. Also the girls want to know.”

 

Jake then realized the rest of the Circle was standing around him. He let out a sigh, sat up, and brushed his hair back with his fingers.

 

“Yes, Adam and I are dating, as of last night.” Jake said, his eyes trailed from each member of the Circle to the next and stopped at Faye.

 

“Okay,” Cassie said. “We just weren’t expecting that, is all.”

 

“Are we all still cool?” Adam asked as he sat up.

 

Diana smiled. “Of course, I’m sure you two being friendly with each other will make things easier within the Circle.”

 

Melissa snorted at that.

 

Adam and Jake both began to blush, which caused laughter from Faye, Melissa, Diana, and Cassie.

**Author's Note:**

> im only capable of making jake cry byeeee


End file.
